58 



»APERS OX THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL, ETC. 



REMEDIES. 



In addition to the usual gathering and destroying of fallen pepper 

 pods, cultural experiments were conducted in the following manner: 

 Some pods were buried in boxes under 1. 2. and 3 inches of soil 

 respectiveh'. keeping one series dry and the other moist — conditions 

 which would result necessarily from irrigation. In the former series 

 the pods dried up and in the latter the pods rotted. 



ExperimenU to determine the effect upon the pepper weevil of covering fallen infested pods 



icith soil. 



T 



Num- i Number ^.-nrh ' Condi- 

 ber of ' of punc- f;;^^:^? i "^^ °^ 

 pods. tures. "' -^ soil. 



Period covered. 



Number of 



weevils 



emerging 



Oct.iy-Nov.4 



; Number of 

 j weevils 

 found dead 

 in soil 

 Nov. 17. 







Inches. 



25 



(V2 



1 



25 



61 



1 



25 



56 



2 



25 



60 



2 



•50 



115 



3 



Wet Oct. 19-Nov. 14 ... 1 adult: 1 6 adults. 



i parasite. 



Drv do 9adults 12adults. 



Wet do 4 adultsa . . . | 1 adult. 



Drv do 3 adults j 5 adults. 



'do do 15 adults i 14 adults. 



a Three of these weevils died as .soon as they came thru the soil. 



Thus it will be readily seen that the covering of the fallen pods every 

 two to three weeks with from 1 to 8 inches of soil would be advan- 

 tageous. This could be arranged by bedding high and then lowering 

 the soil. Where irrigation is practised the decay of the pods is greatly 

 hastened, thus depriving the larva^ of this food supply. It is only fair 

 to state that at the time the pods in these experiments were buried 

 most of the larvie were nearly full fed, con.sequently a larger number 

 came to maturity than would have been the case had burial occurred 

 while the larviP were small. Two other experiments were conducted 

 by Mr. W. W. Vothers in large cages in the open, with the following 

 results: 



Kvperimenis to determine the effect upon the pepper weevil of covering fallen infested pods 



with .^oil. 



Number 

 of pods. 



Depth of Condition 

 .soil. of <;oil. 



Inches. 



3 Drv« 



2 ; Dry a 



i 



Date of ,-''"")^^'" Number of ; 

 e.xami- ''iK weevils dead 

 nation. Lr,^^^^^. in soil NOV. 15. 



.500 

 •450 



Oct. 20 i 64 . None found. 

 Oct. .28 50 Do. 



" Heavv rains October 24 and November 10. 



October 31 about 200 of the last-mentioned lot of pods were examined 

 and found to contain 73 living and 9 dead stages: of this number 47 

 were pupie and 15 were larviv. The latter necessarily would have 

 starved, owing to the rapid decay of the buried pods. 



O 



